Cristian Volpato signs exclusive deal to licence his AI ‘synthetic twin’ to Callandor
In mid-September 22-year-old Socceroo Cristian Volpato struck a deal with California-based company Callandor to licence his AI likeness, the company and representatives confirmed. As part of the agreement Callandor received exclusive rights to Volpato’s digital image, voice, biometric profiles and performance data and will seek to monetise and police AI uses of his likeness.
A social media video authorised by Volpato shows an AI-generated “synthetic twin” of the Sassuolo player multiplying into four digital clones in different settings, including one in a white linen suit on a beach with the Twelve Apostles behind him and another on a large digital billboard in a football shirt. The footage was produced by an AI-licensing agency and is presented as an example of the services Callandor offers to athletes who want to control and commercialise their digital identities. Volpato, who is 22 years old, has allowed the company to use his image for brand placements and other AI-driven content as part of the deal.
Callandor, founded in February, has a small roster of athletes that includes Brazilian footballer Jorginho and American sailor Chris Poole, and its campaigns are currently in pilot phase. From Los Angeles Callandor co-founder Michael Fisk said the company is in the business of making “synthetic twins”. Fisk argued these digital clones can be used continuously by brands and free athletes from having to be physically present for every engagement, saying: “Cristian is constantly training,” Fisk says. “He’s constantly out there playing. If he has any free time whatsoever, he’ll probably want to spend it with family and friends, so he loses on a lot of opportunities on brand placements.
“A synthetic twin could be used 24-7, year-round by brands. Assuming it’s approved, right?” Fisk added, describing commercial possibilities beyond traditional advertising such as AI-generated voiceovers for books and foreign-language editions. Fisk, a former executive at Sony Pictures and MGM, also raised the prospect of apps that give fans a bespoke experience with a digital clone and said: “Ultimately, the holy grail of an athlete is to have that one-on-one interaction with fans,” Fisk says.
Fisk outlined how a synthetic twin might provide performance feedback in real time, using Volpato as an example: “He’s realising I’m not handling the ball well [so] his synthetic twin can tell me, ‘Hey, you should be doing this and this and this’,” says Fisk. Callandor will attempt to land brand deals and take a cut of income from AI uses of Volpato’s likeness while also helping to restrict unapproved content, the company said.
The move comes amid wider industry concern about unauthorised AI use of athletes’ images; player contracts in major Australian sporting leagues currently make no mention of AI, and earlier this month the AFL told its gambling partner Sportsbet to stop using AI images of players without their consent after a complaint from the players’ union. William Saunders, who leads Sydney-based start-up Hyperknown, said athletes are beginning to act to secure rights to their AI images and warned of a “race between what technology can do and what people have actually authorised.” He added: “Sportsbet shows us what happens when companies and technology get ahead of consent.”
Other high-profile examples cited in the industry include Brazilian star Neymar licensing his AI likeness to a Chinese-owned entertainment platform in June for short videos published during the FIFA World Cup, and a UK campaign last month led by players including Cole Palmer and Lucy Bronze raising concerns about deepfakes and backed by global player union Fifpro. Jonathan Harlen, an intellectual property expert at Southern Cross University, called the rise of AI brokers “the obvious next step” in a “supercharged global market” and warned of complex legal issues, saying: “While copyright already subsists in voice recordings, artistic works and cinematographic images, it is only recognised where there has been human authorship, as well as a degree of independent or creative human effort involved in the making of the work,” Harlen says. “It doesn’t apply to AI reproductions.”
Debate over how strictly to police fan-created AI content continues: Fisk cautioned against an overbroad crackdown on fan art while urging care over harmful or misleading uses, saying: “You don’t want fans to use your image and put you in [content] using brands that you don’t use, or saying something that you would never say,” he says. “Obviously, anything with religion and drugs, or whatever it might be, you have to be very, very careful. So it does complicate things a bit, but the opportunities are phenomenal.” An offshore casino also used a deepfake of Manchester United player Bruno Fernandes in advertising earlier this year, highlighting the commercial appetite for such content.
Callandor intends to monetise Volpato’s AI likeness through commercial deals while restricting unapproved uses, and the players’ union is considering whether stricter rules should be negotiated after recent incidents led the AFL to intervene with Sportsbet. Those are the immediate next steps identified by sources in the industry.